Page 32 - Whispering Squirrels

EXERCISE
The Emotional Signal Light
This Exercise is designed to help children realize that their emotions are not the cause of their behavior but actually are the result of their Thinking. If they are very upset, angry, sad or embarrassed, (Not OK Emotions) then their thinking is very likely irrational... Stinky and will cause them to have Thumbs Down Behav-ior.
Feeling sad or angry are acceptable emotions if they are based on rational thinking. But in many instances, strong negative emotions, which precede inap-propriate behavior (fighting, whining or crying, are based on beliefs (thinking that are exaggerated, over generalized, prejudiced or otherwise irrational.
This exercise is designed to teach your child to question their thinking in times of emotional upset, “What am I thinking right now and does it make any sense” and to then consider alternative ways of thinking about the situation. None of us need to be victims of our habituated irrational beliefs; like Fighting Boy and Running Boy but few of us have a systematic way of changing our ineffective thinking like Thinking Boy.
Use the exercise of the Emotional Signal Light to teach your child to recognize their thinking and choose more reasonable and effective ways of thinking about a situation.
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